Marvel of modern materials
We encounter the latest high-tech materials wherever we go: at home, at work, at fairs, exhibitions and events. Architects and designers can turn to an ever growing range of products for their ideas.
New technologies used in the manufacture of materials open up whole new opportunities for design and functionality. One example are the luminescent textiles used for advertising media or display structures. Textiles that emit light are increasingly being used to inform, warn, direct and advertise on our streets, in buildings and transport. Metallised thread woven into the material gives these textiles their luminous qualities.
Ellermann, Rietberg, developed a new adhesive technique especially for the textile chandelier featured at this year's Mercedes-Benz stand at the Geneva Motor Show. The 50-m long, 20-t amorphous light object resembling a flat ship's hull was suspended from the ceiling at the site. As project manager Hannes Dziggel explains: "Trying to create a sail of this size with a precisely defined camber without using struts was no easy task." The adhesive technique allows textile specialists to install even very complex shapes straight and with the necessary heat resistance - an essential property in this case because the sail was a gigantic lamp containing 2,500 fluorescent tubes. With a ceiling height of 25 m, the effect had to look good from a distance.
Minute particles - big effect: Today nanotechnology is the buzzword when new technologies are discussed. Nature shows us how it's done: Nanostructures on the soles of their feet are what enable geckos to walk on the ceiling and the lotus flower cleans its petals using its special nanostructure surface properties. Endowed with nanoparticles, plastics take on completely new properties such as improved hardness or flame resistance. Ceramics with nanoparticles are now harder, lighter and more wear-resistant than metal. Textiles with a nanoscale impregnation system are not only easier to clean but also have antibacterial, odour-inhibiting, and dirt-repelling properties.
A cutting-edge branch of material research called adaptronics is developing materials with new, intelligent properties: Loud, unpleasant noise is often caused by vibration. Vibration is the cause of permanent background noise. The lighter a material the more it vibrates and the louder it becomes. Intelligent materials can solve that problem: They detect and actively counter these vibrations. Fibres and film made of piezoceramics, for instance, reduce noise pollution.
Using innovative materials to implement ideas has always been an interesting challenge for designers and product developers. The best-known material collection in the world is Material ConneXion. In addition to New York and Milan, this company now also has offices in Cologne. The library and online database contains more than 3,000 material samples from eight product categories. For example, you will find a wood/polymer composite material which is a lighter, more moisture-resistant alternative to real wood, translucent fibre-optic fabric with a transmission factor 50 %, fabric and tapes with interwoven optical fibres, pigmented leather whose colour changes with the temperature, high-pressure laminates that contain digital images, fabrics which through the use of heat shrink fibres produce a three-dimensional effect, reflecting textiles which are printed on the reverse side allowing graphics to be applied to the entire fabric without any loss in intensity, flexible, elastic electrical sheet steel, laminated pressboard that contains electrically conducting particles, natural materials to which a layer has been applied for easy application of printing ink, and a whole lot more. The library also plays an important role in material transfer - materials that have been developed for a particular product may be of benefit to other industries, too.
The Stuttgart company raumPROBE is putting together an exhibition in its city in which a wide array of different materials can be experienced directly through samples. It gives architects, designers and developers an opportunity to find out about surfaces, semi-finished products and the latest material innovations and be inspired by the variety. "The intelligent application of materials is becoming an ever bigger factor in the market success of a designer so we have made it our business to compile the countless innovations in material technology", Joachim Stumpp, managing partner, explains. The exhibition not only presents neglected materials like felt and clay, which are enjoying renewed popularity, but also the latest innovations. For example, the translucent material Magiflex that has holographic properties, making shapes appear to move as you walk past. Used behind acrylic, for example, as a partition wall, this film can be a real eye-catcher. Fairs offer another platform for architects, and are increasingly including competitions and special presentations on the subject of "new materials". For example, the Materialica Design Award will be presented at Materialica, taking place from October 10 to 12 in Munich. And at the Hanover Industry Fair, the iF International Forum Design is staging its second special show on materials, iF material trends 2006. This 1,000-m2 exhibition entitled "Sensual Materials" showcases the role of the senses: How do these influence the way people experience materials, what can be used to evoke positive - or negative - associations or trigger emotions? What do we learn from this, which aspects are important for product development? iF is being supported in this venture by Munich creative agency designafairs.
In the USA, solid surfaces and engineered stones have long since entered architecture and interior design. To introduce these advanced materials to a wider trade public in Europe, too, Survey Marketing + Consulting, Bielefeld, launched E3S (European Solid Surface Show & Engineered Stone Exhibition) three years ago. This exhibition presents the entire spectrum of materials, design ideas and applications in commercial buildings, interior fittings, shop and exhibition building. What do architects and planners know about innovative surface materials? What experiences have they encountered with them so far? Answers to these questions and others is what the information event "Innovative Surface Material" as part of E3S during ZOW held in February at the Bad Salzuflen exhibition centre sought to provide.
Even the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research is addressing this topic and promoting the development of new materials. From 2003 to 2008, around EUR 85 million per annum will be invested in the framework programme "WING - Materials Innovations for Industry and Society".
Angela Wiegmann
m+a report Nr.3 / 2006 vom 28.04.2006
m+a report vom 28. April 2006